Ishtar Gate Formal Analysis

Ishtar Gate Formal Analysis

Formal Analysis - Ishtar Gate

The Ishtar Gate is one of the greatest treausres of Neo-Babylonian and Persian period. It was built during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II around 575BCE. The gate is located at the end of one of the world's first streets, Processional Way. In addition, through the Processional Way, the gate also guarded the northern entrace to the city of Babylon. Moreover, the gate itself is approximately 40 feet tall and has double arch gate, consisting of two arches spaced by an interior passage. The gate is made of mud brick, surfaced with glazed clay bricks of a very deep blue color. However, the gate is decorated and inlayed yellow and colorfully glazed brickwork depicting lions and dragons, palm trees, and geometric designs. In addition, the gate is known to lead into the city of Babylon and represent the power of Babylon. On top, the decorations of dragons on the gate are sacred to the god Marduk, while bulls and lions are deamed sacred to a variety of other Mesopotamian dieties. Last, but not least, the purpose for building the gate was to beautify and protect the city of Babylon, and to dedicate it to the goddess Ishtar.
Next, the Ishtar Gate is one of the large impressive and artistically decorated construction. According to me, the whole gate is composed with the square and rectangle shapes and the circular arch in the middle. However, these shapes then seems to split the gate into three sections, making the left and right sides look like a tall rectangle shapes, and the middle side look like a short rectangle shape along with a circular yellow arch in the front and flat and clear rectangle ceiling on the top. As a result, when you put the three sections of the gate together, it compose it as the complete square shapes. Moreover, the entire gate is created in a symmetrical way. Also, the three sections of the gate are equally splited into parts along with equal size, and the same amount of tiles, designs, colors, and...